› Minimum five-year term — s 21 waiver certificate — overholding arrangement
Landlord and Tenant
› Retail Leases
› Electronic service of notices — Electronic Transactions (Victoria) Act 2000 — implied consent
Equity
› Estoppel
› Promissory estoppel — clear and unequivocal representation — detrimental reliance — negotiations culminating in deed
Quick Take
1A deeming provision in a lease as to when service is taken to have been effected is distinguishable from a clause prescribing the mode or method of service, and arguably does not satisfy the requirement under s 97(d) of the RLA to serve a notice 'in any way authorised by the retail premises lease'; the question was left open for trial.
2Under s 8 of the Electronic Transactions (Victoria) Act 2000, consent to receiving a s 64 RLA notice by electronic communication can be reasonably inferred from the parties' established course of dealing via email, without the need for express acceptance of that mode of service.
3Where negotiations involving vague references to a possible further lease term are superseded by executed deeds of agreement that contain no such term, and the tenant procures s 21(5) waiver certificates, there is no serious question to be tried that the parties agreed to a five-year extension or that s 21 of the RLA operates to create one.
